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E2 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2011 uuu RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH TimesDispatch.com Editorial Page Search: opinion Election 2011 Local politics Washington dominates political attention. Presidential races draw the largest turnouts. Campaigns for city and county offices draw the smallest. Yet despite the vast difference in vote totals, local elections may have a greater visible impact on citizens’ lives than the national ones. Gerrymandering inhibits competition for the state legislature. This year the Richmond Metro Area lacks stop-the-presses campaigns for the General Assembly. Don Quixotes are making futile charges in several districts. The windmills will prevail. Gerrymandering disgraces both parties and the entire political class. The situation will not change until the public demands reform, but a lazy citizenry does not mind being exploited by cynics. Endorsements would be superfluous. We will say only that senators and delegates such as John Watkins, Ryan McDougle, John O’Bannon, Jennifer McClellan, Lee Ware, Walter Stosch, Manoli Loupassi, Betsy Carr and Chris Peace do not need outside boosting. Henry Marsh resembles a relic yet remains a political force. Donald McEachin’s ambitions may transcend his sinecure Letters to the Editor in the Senate. Peter Farrell will be a welcome addition to the House of Delegates. Is Clinton still so The counties offer more competition in their races for school blinded by politics? CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAY board and board of supervisors. The contests at those levels often focus on personalities and issues of interest primarily to neigh- EDITOR, TIMES-DISPATCH: Decreasing menhaden Chesapeake Bay. We see more borhoods. Attendance at candidate forums ranges from pathetic Bill Clinton certainly is more seagulls in urban centers to modestly encouraging. Partisan involvement annoys more “slender-looking,” as your news harvest is a no-brainer eating fries than we see on the article, “Clinton warns of GOP Bay. than it persuades. Mailed material angers sentient recipients. We takeover,” stated, but he’s no EDITOR, TIMES-DISPATCH: decline to make across-the-board endorsements. Regarding the Op/Ed col- I did not realize how impor- less slick: “There is not a single tant a menhaden diet was to The composition of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors successful country on the planet umn “Chesapeake wildlife in the balance,” by Bryan Watts: waterfowl until I read this has not changed since Capt. John Smith made landfall nearby. that operates on the theory that column. It took too long to Residents believe that the county is well run, and their confidence the government is the problem. My grandfather built a place on the lower Potomac River in stop the winter dredging of appears justified. County Manager Virgil Hazelett serves in an Not one.” crabs in the Bay. It was a no- He may be right — or he may 1936, my dad inherited it, and appointed position yet likely would claim a landslide in a now I have (with family). We brainer solution to help the be quibbling. The truth depends crab population. Politics were campaign for Henrico’s mayor. Varina’s Jim Donati ought to upon what Clinton’s definition all have had boats and love to remain in the team. Henrico’s School Board has seen contention spend a day on the water involved for too long. of a “successful country” is. Harvesting menhaden to 8 in recent years. The latest edition has disappointed, as did its Would the German people be- dragging lines. I remember when several percent of a guessed pop- predecessors. The image of the county’s schools may be more ing asked to shoulder the fi- ulation is blatant over-fishing flattering than the reality, but the public seems satisfied. The nancial bailout burden of de- species of fish and crab were plentiful in the Potomac. of a natural resource — an- Times-Dispatch hears good things about Darrell Jenkins in the cades of failed socialist promis- other no-brainer. If the Atlan- es and policies agree that the Overall fishing in recent years Brookland District. A Tuesday editorial expressed an inclination has been awful. The last time I tic States Marine Fisheries spendthrift and broke govern- Commission won’t increase for Bill Janis in the preposterous race for commonwealth’s ments of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, saw a school of menhaden at attorney. the mouth of the Potomac the population threshold to 15 Greece and Spain are not prob- percent, then it has gone the As it often does, Chesterfield is producing some of the region’s lems that threaten to bankrupt was probably 10 years ago. We don’t even see seagulls diving same way as most of our sta- feistiest matchups. The county frequently features the most the European Union, indeed, tus-quo politicians. vitriol as well. Yet, like Henrico, it is well run, thanks considerably the whole planet? Or, is Clinton on breaking fish intermixed with baitfish in the Potomac TSCHARNER D. WATKINS III. admitting that the profligate MIDLOTHIAN. to County Administrator Jay Stegmaier. Development has dom- today — it’s even rare on the inated Chesterfield’s debate as the county has contended with spending of these progressive nations — all uber-leftist role rapid growth. Its goal is to strike a balance between residential models for Democratic Party communities and commercial real estate. Many of its residents leaders — has driven these soldier are “Please!” or “I’m Whitman and Moore certainly work outside its boundaries. Regarding the Board of Supervisors, aspirant socialist utopias into sorry.” have a right to voice their opin- The Times-Dispatch supports the Bermuda District’s Dorothy the quickly expanding column It’s recognizing the universal ions about nuclear power. But Jaeckle. Midlothian’s Dan Gecker is running unopposed because, of unsuccessful countries? wail of a mother who has lost readers have a right to know As one ponders the Occupy her son, a wife who lost her that they are paid spokespersons we would like to think, his constituents consider him among the husband, a sister who has lost a for the nuclear industry. most thoughtful elected officials in the region. Marleen Durfee Wall Street movement and its clear parallels with Bill-and- brother. For the past five years, Whit- offers a maverick voice in Matoaca. The Dale District’s Jim friends’ anti-Vietnam War dem- It’s looking around when you man and Moore have been plug- Holland responded with dignity to a difficult situation regarding onstrations in Oxford, one won- deploy and wondering, just for a ging nuclear power as co-chairs the board’s chairmanship. ders if he wasn’t thinking, back moment, who among you isn’t of the benignly named Clean The campaigns for school board will not have decisive then, that the American govern- going to make it. and Safe Energy Coalition. They consequences for the content in the classroom. The new board ment was broken. Did he think It’s losing your religion. It’s rarely, if ever, mention that the America was not a successful having a different point of refer- coalition — not much more ought to dedicate itself to promoting openness and communica- ence for Veterans Day. than a website with a list of tion. Chesterfield’s schools are not under siege yet administration country in 1969? Is he now ’fess- ing up that America’s Vietnam It’s knowing that even after utilities, businesses and unions acts as though they are. Joseph Horbal should return as policy was right and he was all these years that there’s not with a financial stake in nuclear commissioner of revenue. wrong in demonstrating on one damned thing you can do power — was founded and is Hanover has established itself as a full player in the met- foreign soil against it? about it — that we will continue solely funded by the Nuclear ropolitan area while retaining its character. This year its school As America deals with its own to create veterans as the natural Energy Institute, the industry system made a major transition as the excellent Jamelle Wilson fast approaching financial Ar- order of things. trade association. NEI paid the BOB SHIPP. public relations firm Hill & succeeded the excellent Stewart Roberson as superintendent. mageddon and the growing STUARTS DRAFT. Knowlton a reported $8 million Hanover’s appointed School Board produces pleasing results. OWS menace, one cannot help but think about Clinton’s state- in 2006 to promote a nuclear The Board of Supervisors boasts electoral action. John Gordon ment and wonder: Does he Nuclear industry is “renaissance.” The PR firm first won in the South Anna District in 1996. His tenure has remain so partisan at this stage fronting its speakers launched the phony grass-roots coincided with the county’s successful transition, and his of his life that he cannot see coalition and tapped Moore and re-election on Tuesday is greatly to be desired. Ed Via has that America, today, would be EDITOR, TIMES-DISPATCH: Whitman to front for it. represented Ashland well. Deborah Winans ably has served better served by more thought- Christine Todd Whitman and Your readers won’t hear from ful leadership and less partisan Patrick Moore have appeared in Whitman and Moore the fact Mechanicsville. your paper recently. Former that a Fukushima-like accident Bevill Dean’s certain re-election as clerk of the circuit court in drivel? RANDAL G. TART. EPA administrator Whitman could happen here. Likewise, the city of Richmond will make us glad. POWHATAN. was a keynote speaker at Gov. they won’t hear about lax gov- McDonnell’s energy conference ernment oversight or the nucle- [“Nuclear power clean and safe, ar industry’s chronic failure to And we still keep former EPA head says”].

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